Perhaps Senator Fritz Hollings cannot claim to have first connected Iraq to 9/11, but he did point out for the record an odd literary coincidence in a speech on the Senate floor on September 12, 2002, the day after the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Hollings entered an editorial into the Congressional record from the Iraqi newspaper Al-Nasiriyah, which he noted appears curious for its eerily prescient language:

America says, admitting just like a bird in the midst of a tornado, that Bin Ladin is behind the bombing of its destroyer in Aden. The fearful series of events continues for America and the terror within America gets to the point that the Governor of Texas increases the amount of the award, just as the stubbornness of the other man and his challenge increases. This challenge makes it such that one of his grandchildren comes from Jeddah traveling on the official Saudi Arabia airlines and celebrates with him the marriage of one of the daughters of his companions. Bin Ladin has become a puzzle and a proof also, of the inability of the American federalism and the C.I.A. to uncover the man and uncover his nest. The most advanced organizations of the world cannot find the man and continues to go in cycles in illusion and presuppositions. They still hope that he could come out from his nest one day, they hope that he would come out from his hiding hole and one day they will point at him their missiles and he will join Guevara, Hassan Abu Salama, Kamal Nasser, Kanafani and others. The man responds with a thin smile and replies to the correspondent from Al Jazeera that he will continue to be the obsession and worry of America and the Jews, and that even that night he will practice and work on an exercise called ``How Do You Bomb the White House.'' And because they know that he can get there, they have started to go through their nightmares on their beds and the leaders have had to wear their bulletproof vests. Meanwhile America has started to pressure the Taliban movement so that it would hand them Bin Ladin, while he continues to smile and still thinks seriously, with the seriousness of the Bedouin of the desert about the way he will try to bomb the Pentagon after he destroys the White House .....

The phenomenon of Bin Ladin is a healthy phenomenon in the Arab spirit. It is a decision and a determination that the stolen Arab self has come to realize after it got bored with promises of its rulers: After it disgusted itself from their abomination and their corruption, the man had to carry the book of God and the Kalashnikov and write on some off white paper ``If you are unable to drive off the Marines from the Kaaba, I will do so.'' It seems that they will be going away because the revolutionary Bin Ladin is insisting very convincingly that he will strike America on the arm that is already hurting. That the man will not be swayed by the plant leaves of Whitman nor by the ``Adventures of Indiana Jones'' and will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra every time he hears his songs.

In one editorial, two months before the attack, al-Nasiriyah -- a state-run newspaper for the Saddam regime -- managed to name all three attack targets for 9/11. They said that bin Laden had spent his time trying to work out how to bomb the White House, which would happen shortly before destroying the Pentagon. Then, in typically flowery Arabic fashion, the author claims that Americans will "curse the memory of Frank Sinatra", an odd reference -- unless one remembers that "New York, New York" remains Sinatra's signature song. In the event, the attack followed precisely this plan, except in reverse order: the World Trade Center went first, then the Pentagon, and the White House would likely have followed if the heroes of Flight 93 had not caused the terrorists to down the plane in Pennsylvania.

Even beyond that, the fawning tone and obvious support for Osama bin Laden in one of Saddam's newspapers belies any suggestion that the two could not find common ground for operations against their common enemy. Saddam wanted Iraqis to stand behind Osama and al-Qaeda and cheer on their attacks on the US. The author states: "This new awareness of the image that Bin Ladin has become gives shape to the resting areas and stops for every Arab revolutionary. It is the subject of our admiration here in Iraq because it shares with us in a unified manner our resisting stand, and just as he fixes his gaze on the Al Aqsa we greet him."

Let's take another look at the timeline to see where July 21, 2001 fits into it. At that point, Mohammed Atta has just met with Ramzi Binalshibh in Madrid, discussing the need to set a date for the attacks. Binalshibh claims that Atta did not do so at that meeting, but Binalshibh provides the only evidence of Atta's demurral. Five days later, Hamid Zakeri would walk into an American embassy and tell the CIA that Osama bin Laden would launch a massive attack the US on September 11, and that the attack would involve six pilots -- an attack about which he learned through his Iranian contacts.

It certainly seems that Binalshibh has created quite a disinformation campaign, and that American officials appeared determined to swallow it. In case you wondered, the 9/11 Commission makes no mention of the Iraqi predictions in its final report, to no one's great surprise.

UPDATE: The Hollings link came from a Thomas search, which apparently didn't deliver a permanent URL. I didn't notice it at the time. It han also be found here. I'll try to find a permanent Thomas URL.

UPDATE II: The relevant pages of the Congressional Record can be found in these two PDF files.

In one editorial, two months before the attack, al-Nasiriyah -- a state-run newspaper for the Saddam regime -- managed to name all three attack targets for 9/11. They said that bin Laden had spent his time trying to work out how to bomb the White House, which would happen shortly before destroying the Pentagon. Then, in typically flowery Arabic fashion, the author claims that Americans will "curse the memory of Frank Sinatra", an odd reference -- unless one remembers that "New York, New York" remains Sinatra's signature song. In the event, the attack followed precisely this plan, except in reverse order: the World Trade Center went first, then the Pentagon, and the White House would likely have followed if the heroes of Flight 93 had not caused the terrorists to down the plane in Pennsylvania.

I've been pounding this home for a couple of years now and have it detailed on my list of links about Iraq and Al Qaeda.

Unless we are to believe that Osama just felt like gossiping with Saddam, it's clear that Saddam and his government run newspaper knew exactly what was coming for America.

There are many who simply WILL NOT admit any of these connections because it ruins their arguments and the media will not confront the left because it would mean more work on their part and totally destroy the easy anti war story they have and support.

Also, our troops found a document in the headquarters of the Mukhbarat, the Iraqi intelligence service, listing Osama bin Laden as an operative of their Damascus bureau. That was in Stephen Hayes's The Connection.

All information published in Iraq's newspapers pre war were propoganda put out by the government.

Agreed.

However:

(1) Is it fair to assume that high-ups actually distributed top-secret info from UBL, and then published it in a public, albeit controlled, outlet. The paper was distied outside Iraq, and certainly to the CIA.

(2) Is it fair to assume that no way, no how could the low level monkeys with typewriters would come up with the obvious targets of Whitehouse, Pentagon, and Frank Sinatra on their own?

I mean really, the "new york, new york" thing is a s t r e t c h ! He describes "all things American" from the modern perspective (McDonalds, Rap music, Hollywood, Frank Sinatra...etc.) Don't forget, Frank was enabler for the Jooooos, so he ranks high on their Shiite list....

Ok. So next step....where's the writer of the paper now, and what does he know?

He's dead...

In in 1998, an Arab intelligence officer, who knows Saddam personally, predicted in Newsweek: "Very soon you will be witnessing large-scale terrorist activity run by the Iraqis." The Arab official said these terror operations would be run under "false flags" --spook-speak for front groups--including bin Laden's organization.

Then there were the predictions by an Iraqi with ties to Iraqi intelligence, Naeem Abd Mulhalhal, in Qusay's own newspaper several weeks before the attacks that stated bin Laden would demolish the Pentagon after he destroys the White House and bin Laden would strike America on the arm that is already hurting. (referencing a second IRAQI sponsored attack on the World Trade Center). Another reference to New York was [bin Laden] will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra everytime he hears his songs. (e.g., New York, New York) which identified New York, New York as a target. Mulhalhal also stated, The wings of a dove and the bullet are all but one and the same in the heart of a believer." which references an airplane attack.

The Arabic language daily newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabic also cited the cooperation between Iraq, bin Laden and Al December 1998 editorial, which predicted that President Saddam Hussein, whose country was subjected to a four day air strike, will look for support in taking revenge on the United States and Britain by cooperating with Saudi oppositionist Osama Bin-Laden, whom the United States considers to be the most wanted person in the world. This info is in the link provided below. How could these people have had foreknowledge without Iraq being involved?

Warning...slow loading .pdf file. This was from a lawsuit filed against Iraq after 9/11...the court ruled against Iraq.

There was also another lawsuit filed by the family of John ONeill (a former FBI agent who captured Ramzi Yousef after the 1993 WTC bombings) after he died in the WTC on 9/11. His personal files from his years of traveling around the world investigating al-Qaeda are were used as evidence in the lawsuit. The evidence includes documents unearthed in the headquarters of the Mukhabarat (Iraq's intelligence service) and information gleaned from the interrogation of both al-Qaeda and Iraqi prisoners. (Link below). It also quotes Vincent Cannistraro, the former CIA counter-terrorism chief, who stated in October 2000 that Iraq had been wanting to carry out terrorist attacks, and that the Iraqi military had been in contact with Osama bin Laden.

We know from these IIS documents that beginning in 1992 the former Iraqi regime regarded bin Laden as an Iraqi Intelligence asset. We know from IIS documents that the former Iraqi regime provided safe haven and financial support to an Iraqi who has admitted to mixing the chemicals for the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. We know from IIS documents that Saddam Hussein agreed to Osama bin Laden's request to broadcast anti-Saudi propaganda on Iraqi state-run television. We know from IIS documents that a "trusted confidante" of bin Laden stayed for more than two weeks at a posh Baghdad hotel as the guest of the Iraqi Intelligence Service.

Lack of evidence is not evidence of no involvement. The president gets pounded when he said there were ties between AQ and Iraq, despite the media writing dozens of articles about the relationship in the 90's.

Thanks much for all the links. It's important that we have these as records to the criminal and unconstitutional actions by the Clinton Administration. Isn't there something in the constitution that talks about..."To Protect And Defend From All Enemies Both Foreign And Domestic"?

the World Trade Center went first, then the Pentagon, and the White House would likely have followed if the heroes of Flight 93 had not caused the terrorists to down the plane in Pennsylvania.

The National Geographic special that aired last week suggested that a captured al qaeda opperative (KSM, if memory serves) said that flight 93 was targeting the U. S. Capital Building. Not that it really matters.

Not trying to defend RepMNT here, s/he is probably a troll worthy of zotting, but the Bush Administration unfortunately does seem more than content on letting the lies regarding Saddam's connection to 9-11 go unchallenged.

The article in the July 2001 Iraqi newspaper indicates that America will be hurting on the arm that was hurting. IMO, that means New York and is a reference to the first WTC bombing in '93.

Also, for me anyway, when I think of Frank Sinatra, the only song that comes to mind is New York, New York. If, as an American, that is the song that comes to mind for me, I can well imagine that for foreigners, who would know even less about Sinatra, that is their allusion also.

Thank you for all the good work you've done in collecting these links.

The last couple of days, I have been pondering the theory that Iraq tried to enlist the Al Qaeda "planes" group for an attack on the RFE/Radio Liberty headquarters in Prague. The Iraqi government could have had contact with the planes group through Ahmed Shakir, who apparently attended the group meeting in Kuala Lumpur in 2000. We know that Mohammed Atta made two trips to Prague in late May - early June 2000. The first was an apparently pointless plane trip - he had no visa to enter the Czech Republic - and Atta could have been scouting out the possibility of using a plane to attack the RFE headquarters.

We also know that Ramzi Binalshibh, the prospective hijacker who couldn't obtain a visa for the U.S., was in Yemen in September - October 2000, and is suspected of having been a participant in the attack against the U.S.S. Cole. Binalshibh, being unable to participate in the U.S. plot, may have been tasked with attacking RFE, either with a plane or a truck bomb. The alleged Atta/Al-Ani meeting occurred on April 9, 2001. Al-Ani, the Iraqi operative in Prague, was thrown out by the Czech government on April 22, 2001. Binalshibh made his last unsuccessful attempt to obtain an entry visa to the U.S. in May, 2001.

Party line in Minnesota (read Ninnie-apolis) - there was no connection between AQ and Iraq. First commandment in Ninnie-apolis - Thou shalt not deviate from the talking points of DU, MoveOn.org, the DNC, etc.

"the Bush Administration unfortunately does seem more than content on letting the lies regarding Saddam's connection to 9-11 go unchallenged"

I know, this bothers me a great deal, as I'm sure it does everyone here (except for the occasional DU-troll who spouts the lies). Why isn't this administration doing a far better and far more thorough job in the battle over left-wing propaganda??? The onslaught of the left has reached far into the 'mainstream' of our political life, like a storm surge from a hurricane.... the only good reasons I can think of for the Bush administration to hold their fire are: (1) protecting intel sources (but at some point the serious damage to public perceptions becomes a far greater issue, since the left is making it nearly impossible politically to take other firm steps in the War on Terror, which is their intention); (2) Holding fire until enough of the Demagogic Party has gone on record repeatedly with demonstrably false and stupid statements about Iraq, Bin Laden, and the WOT. Should be easy to permanently discredit just about all of the leadership of the Demagogic Party and much of the MSM by now.....!!! Anyway, I'm sick of seeing the lies of the left adequately countered by people with the prominence and the knowledge to make an effective counter-reply. What's going on?

The United States also began broadcasting anti-Hussein messages into Iraq via Radio Free Iraq. The broadcasts were housed in the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty headquarters in Prague. The first broadcast went out on October 30, 1998. The Iraqis were furious and threatened retaliation. On November 8, 1998, a commentator on Iraqi state television insisted the broadcasts would do nothing to affect the "jihad spirit" of the Iraqis. A statement three days later from Saddam's Baath party called on Muslims to be steadfast in the ongoing Mother of All Battles and to undertake "unprecedented heroisms" to fight the Zionists and Crusaders. And then, a call for attacks:

All living capabilities of the Arab nation should be toward the unity of the pan-Arab [world] and toward escalating the struggle to the highest levels of jihad. . . . The escalation of the confrontation and the disclosure of its dimensions and the aggressive intentions now require an organized, planned, influential and conclusive enthusiasm against U.S. interests.

This was not, apparently, just bluster. The Iraqi regime wired $150,000 to an account in Prague, according to Jabir Salim, the man on the receiving end. Salim was the Iraqi station chief in the Czech Republic and with the money he received an order: Recruit a young Islamic radical to blow up the headquarters of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Salim had difficulty finding someone to commit the martyrdom operation, he told British Intelligence after defecting to the West when the U.S. launched Operation Desert Fox--a series of cruise missile attacks on Iraqi targets--on December 16, 1998. Salim also told interrogators that the Iraq-al Qaeda relationship had intensified after the August 1998 embassy bombings and that the Iraqi Intelligence station in Pakistan served as the hub of Iraq-al Qaeda activity.

In November, Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman added another element to the story. He said that when Czech intelligence determined Atta had contacted Al-Ani, it raised the hypothesis that the purpose of the meeting might be to discuss an attack on the Prague the headquarters for U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

This hypothesis was based on information provided by Jabir Salim in December 1998. Salim, like Al-Ani, had been the Iraq Consul in Prague, and had defected. When debriefed by western intelligence services, he revealed that Iraq had been planning a car bombing of Radio Free Europe. So when al-Ani took Salims place at the Iraq Embassy, Czech intelligence assumed that he might be continuing that mission, which accounted for the surveillance on al-Ani.

Hmmmm...I don't know about this source (and oddly enough, this is from Sept 2001) but...

The German authorities have established that Atta telephoned and met bin Laden associates living or passing through Germany. The nature of the German evidence for this is still unclear. Atta was a careful user of the telephone, walking to call centres and public booths rather than using his own phone. The CIA says, however, that it tracked him [Atta]on a buying spree in Frankfurt between January and May 2000 as he purchased chemicals essential to making bombs.

Atta and another hijacker, Mawan al-Shehhi, had contacts with Mamoun Darkazanli, a Syrian businessman, who has had his financial assets frozen by the Bush Administration. Mr Darkazanli, an exporter based in Hamburg, had power of attorney over the German account of Mamduhu Mahmud Salim, who the United States believes is the European financial chief of the bin Laden group.

Mr Salim was arrested in Munich in 1998 on a US warrant and extradited to America, where he is awaiting trial on charges of membership of a terrorist organisation as well as the attempted murder of a prison guard.

Mr Darkazanli was not answering his telephone yesterday and his small office was closed. He has, however, denied terrorist involvement and the German authorities have not issued an arrest warrant. Mr Darkazanli has admitted knowing Atta and since the businessman's name is on Mr Salim's bank documents, police believe they have made at least a tentative connection.

Mamoun Darkazanli was an Al Qaeda financier also linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. US intel has foolishly regarded Muslim Brotherhood as somehow less radical and has not pursued them with vigor. Both Mohammed Atta and his scumbag father are said to go way back with Muslim Brotherhood, which like Al Qaeda dreams of a world-wide 'Caliphate' of Islamo-fascist rule.

Darkazanli, 44 is identified by intelligence officials in Hamburg as a longtime member of the Syrian wing of the ultra-radical Muslim Brotherhood 

Darkazanli nevertheless has a history of associations with high-level Al Qaeda figures going back at least to 1993, the year he told police he first met Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, described by U.S. prosecutors as a "founding member" of Al Qaeda who once tried to acquire nuclear weapons for Osama bin Laden. In 1995, police files show, Darkazanli opened a joint bank account in Hamburg with Salim, who allegedly specialized in setting up bin Laden-owned companies in Sudan At the time of his arrest Salim had Darkazanli's number programmed into his cell phone.

Darkazanli is linked to not only Atta's cell but to Mamdouh Mahmud Salim and Wadi el-Hage, two TOP Al Qaeda dudes. Salim is the low-life who stabbed a prison guard in the eye with a sharpened comb in NYC..... none of these people should still be breathing good air.

Darkazanli nevertheless has a history of associations with high-level Al Qaeda figures going back at least to 1993, the year he told police he first met Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, described by U.S. prosecutors as a "founding member" of Al Qaeda who once tried to acquire nuclear weapons for Osama bin Laden.

In 1995, police files show, Darkazanli opened a joint bank account in Hamburg with Salim, who allegedly specialized in setting up bin Laden-owned companies in Sudan. Darkazanli told the police the account had been created for the purchase of a radio transmitter to be shipped to Sudan, where bin Laden then had his headquarters.

Cell phone link to bin Laden

Bin Laden was expelled by the Sudanese and fled to Afghanistan before the deal could be completed. Salim was arrested in Munich in 1998 at the request of the U.S., which had charged him with conspiring "to kill Americans worldwide." At the time of his arrest Salim had Darkazanli's number programmed into his cell phone.

Salim is awaiting trial in New York on charges of attempted murder, stemming from an attack on a prison guard with a sharpened comb.

"I only had business relations with those people," Darkazanli told the police, referring to Salim and another former top bin Laden associate, Wadi el-Hage, serving a life sentence in the U.S. for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.

Got to keep two different Salim names separate (but are they related to each other??): there is Jabir Salim who worked for IRAQ and there is Mamdouh Mahmud Salim who is unquestionably AL QAEDA.... both are linked to Mamoun Darkazanli!! But are they also linked to each other??

The 9/11 Congressional Inquiry's final report concludes that at least six hijackers received substantial assistance from associates in the US, though it's not known to what extent any of these contacts in the United States were aware of the plot. These hijackers came into contact with at least 14 people who were investigated by the FBI before 9/11, and four of those investigations were active while the hijackers were present. But in June 2002, FBI Director Mueller testified: While here, the hijackers effectively operated without suspicion, triggering nothing that would have alerted law enforcement and doing nothing that exposed them to domestic coverage. As far as we know, they contacted no known terrorist sympathizers in the United States. CIA Director Tenet made similar comments at the same time, and another FBI official stated, [T]here were no contacts with anybody we were looking at inside the United States. These comments are untrue, because one FBI document from November 2001 uncovered by the Inquiry concludes that the six lead hijackers maintained a web of contacts both in the United States and abroad. These associates, ranging in degrees of closeness, include friends and associates from universities and flight schools, former roommates, people they knew through mosques and religious activities, and employment contacts. Other contacts provided legal, logistical, or financial assistance, facilitated US entry and flight school enrollment, or were known from [al-Qaeda]-related activities or training. [9/11 Congressional Inquiry, 7/24/03] The declassified sections of the 9/11 Congressional Inquiry's final report show the hijackers have contact with:

Mamoun Darkazanli, investigated several times starting in 1991; the CIA makes repeated efforts to turn him into an informer

Mohammed Haydar Zammar, investigated by Germany since at least 1997, the Germans periodically inform the CIA what they learn Osama Basnan, US intelligence is informed of his connections to Islamic militants several times in early 1990s but fails to investigate

Omar al-Bayoumi, investigated in San Diego from 1998-1999

Anwar Al Aulaqi, investigated in San Diego from 1999-2000 Osama Sam Mustafa, owner of a San Diego gas station, and investigated beginning in 1991

Ed Salamah, manager of the same gas station, and an uncooperative witness in 2000

An unnamed friend of Hani Hanjour, whom the FBI tries to investigate in 2001

An unnamed associate of Marwan Alshehhi, investigated beginning in 1999

Hijackers Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar, who had contact with Basnan, al-Bayoumi, Aulaqi, Mustafa, and Salamah, maintained a number of other contacts in the local Islamic community during their time in San Diego, some of whom were also known to the FBI through counterterrorist inquiries and investigations, but details of these individuals and possible others are still classified. [9/11 Congressional Inquiry, 7/24/03]

None of the above people have been arrested or even publicly charged with any crime associated with terrorism, although Zammar is in prison in Syria.

3) Mamdouh Mahmud Salim: An Iraqi, Salim was born in 1958 and established links between al-Qaida and groups in Iraq and Lebanon. It is believed that Salim cofounded al-Qaida. Salim is not accused of a direct role in the embassy bombings, but he is charged with terror conspiracy charges that could bring a life sentence. He is also accused of managing Wadi Aqiq, bin Laden's umbrella company that procured communications equipment and conventional weapons for the organization. Some...as in other Al Qaeda members know him as Abu Hajer al Iraqi. Sure, he told them, he worked for Osama bin Ladenbut only as a salaried employee managing bin Ladens Sudanese agricultural business. Moreover, in the mid-nineties, the Iraq-born Salim supposedly put his knowledge and his nationality to use as Al Qaedas liaison to Iraqi intelligence. Indictment of Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, January 6, 1999.

Note: I pinged AlwaysFree because his/her page came up in a search on this subject. Seems Mahmdouh Mahmud Salim had an alias:

Another facilitator of the relationship during the mid-1990s was Mahmdouh Mahmud Salim (a.k.a. Abu Hajer al-Iraqi). Abu Hajer, now in a New York prison, was described in court proceedings related to the August 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania as bin Laden's "best friend." According to CIA reporting dating back to the Clinton administration, bin Laden trusted him to serve as a liaison with Saddam's regime and tasked him with procurement of weapons of mass destruction for al Qaeda. FBI reporting in the memo reveals that Abu Hajer "visited Iraq in early 1995" and "had a good relationship with Iraqi intelligence. Sometime before mid-1995 he went on an al Qaeda mission to discuss unspecified cooperation with the Iraqi government."

This could get confusing...another Salim comes up on that page, Brigadier Salim al-Ahmed:

Reporting from a well placed source disclosed that bin Laden was receiving training on bomb making from the IIS's [Iraqi Intelligence Service] principal technical expert on making sophisticated explosives, Brigadier Salim al-Ahmed. Brigadier Salim was observed at bin Laden's farm in Khartoum in Sept.-Oct. 1995 and again in July 1996, in the company of the Director of Iraqi Intelligence, Mani abd-al-Rashid al-Tikriti.

More on Shakir on that page too...check out the bold part...

He was arrested in Doha, Qatar, on September 17, 2001. He had been employed by the Qatari government in its Ministry of Religious Development. Authorities found what Newsweek's Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman described as a "treasure trove": contact information--both on Shakir and back at his apartment--for several high-ranking al Qaeda terrorists. They include: Zaid Sheikh Mohammed, brother of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed; Musab Yasin, brother of Abdul Rahman Yasin, the Iraqi who participated in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; Abu Hajer al Iraqi, the Iraqi national alleged to have been Osama bin Laden's "best friend"; and Ibrahim Suleiman, a Kuwaiti native whose fingerprints were found on the bombmaking manuals authorities say were used in preparation for the 1993 Trade Center bombing. We also know that in January 1993, shortly before the first attack on the World Trade Center, Shakir had received a phone call later traced to the New Jersey safehouse that served as the headquarters for that operation.

Darkazanli was reportedly the entree to radical networks for Mohammed Haydar Zammar, said to be the 'recruiter' who put together the 9/11 "Hamburg cell" -- Darkazanli is apparently still free due to the idiocy of German law, and Zammar is said to have been handed over to Syria (presumably because he was originally from Syria) -- but can Syria really be trusted to have done any serious interrogation with this guy, or are they just 'hosting' him the way they host Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, etc.?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64793-2002Sep10.html

"By his late teens, Zammar had established a relationship with radical Muslims through Mamoun Darkazanli, a fellow Syrian, whom U.S. authorities have identified as an al Qaeda financier. Darkazanli is still living in Hamburg and is under investigation, but German officials say they do not have enough evidence to arrest him. He denies involvement with al Qaeda or the Sept. 11 plot."

Perhaps we could develope a freeper version of ABLE DANGER, pooling together all the research efforts here and then crunching data.... but I don't know if a super-computer would be required or what would be involved to get a program of "link analysis"..... we would hope that federal agencies would be doing this sort of thing, but since ABLE DANGER was canceled out of lawyerly fears it may be that none of this is going on in the intel agencies.

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